1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for die cutting at least one blank in a sheet and stripping waste material therefrom.
2. Prior Art
Conventional die cutting apparatus utilizes a conventional platen press having a pair of platens provided with knives and creasing bars for cutting and creasing blanks from a sheet of material such as pasteboard, a stripping station in which waste portions are stripped from the sheet, and a delivery station in which the stripped sheet is discharged for subsequent handling. To transport a workpiece or sheet between the platens and then to the other station, the conventional apparatus has a conveying device comprising a pair of spaced endless chains with gripper bars disposed thereon. The gripper bar grasps the leading edge of a sheet as it is introduced to the apparatus and intermittently transports the sheet through the apparatus and the conveyor provides a dwell period for the sheet at each station to enable the performance of an operation thereon.
Conventional presses have exhibited several disadvantages. Among these is a high sound or noise level of the machine, the relatively low operational speed, a danger presented by a gripper bar being misaligned during operation of the machine and the complexity of the actuating means for intermittently advancing the gripper bars of the conveyor device through the device.